What they don't want us to know, we don't
by planet p
Summary: AU; apparently, it wasn't such a good idea to leave Kyle, Alex and Angelo in a room alone together.


**What they don't want us to know, we don't** by planet p

**Disclaimer** I don't own _the Pretender_ or any of its characters.

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**As usual, super lame.**

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_1976_

"Here, pet!" Grinning, Kyle snapped his fingers, then, when Angelo did not approach him, he scowled and started toward him. "Are you deaf?" he snapped, grabbing Angelo's arm and tugging him after him, in the direction of the swimming pool.

"Kyle," Alex warned. They were to behave, not make a mischief of themselves. What was more, Angelo was one of them, he wasn't a toy to play games with; he was a part of their team.

As they drew nearer to the pool, Kyle laughed at the look on Angelo's face. He was actually scared of the water, of falling in and drowning. How pathetic!

"Kyle, what have I just said?" Alex asked, coming to join the pair by the side of the pool.

"I didn't hear you say anything," Kyle replied. "Ah, except just now!"

"Let his arm go," Alex told him firmly. "It is clear that he is distressed. This is not how we behave towards other people, least of all one of our own."

Kyle glanced at Angelo shortly, a frown crossing his face. "What, he's not… he's not one of us, Alex. If that's the idea that you're entertaining, then I've got to say, you're badly mistaken. He's… he's fucked up. He doesn't work. We do."

"He is a person, Kyle," Alex reminded him. "As people, we are all equal if we so have the will to be. He is a person, and he works just fine as a person."

"Right! Are you saying that he has feelings, Alex? That's what I think you're saying. Is that what you're saying?" He laughed.

"Yes, Kyle, I am saying that he has feelings. What a surprise, even Angelo has feelings? Well, let me tell you Kyle, right now, I am finding it harder and harder to believe that _you_ have any feelings! Wake up to yourself!"

Kyle shook his head. Sometimes, he just couldn't listen to Alex, especially when he started on about all of the nonsense he was so fond of. He sighed heavily. "Is that right, Angelo? Do you have feelings?"

Alex made a face. Kyle knew as well as he did that Angelo wasn't the most talkative of them. If he was playing at expecting a straight answer out of the boy, then he was just being silly.

Kyle turned to look at Alex suddenly. "Oh, I'm loving the double standards here, Alex! He can get away with pretending to be mute, but if I just say _one_ word – _one word_ – out of line, then _I'm_ the loser!"

"You are putting words into my mouth, Kyle. I did not call you a 'loser,' nor would I presume to label you as such. The choice whether or not you wish to act as one, however, lies with-"

"SHUT UP!" Kyle screamed. He's had about enough of Alex's rubbish than he could take for one day! Everyday, it was the same shit! The same of shit! He was so fucking sick of it.

Pulling Angelo after him, he stormed over to Alex and gave him a hard shove. He pretended not to notice the frightened look on Alex's face – he'd never been allowed to learn to swim. None of them had.

That just went to show the lovely people that the Center truly were – Oh, they were really equipping them for life, that was for sure!

Beside him, Angelo tried to get down on the floor.

"Did I say you could sit down?" Kyle yelled, glaring at the younger teenager with hatred. He was so fucking sick of Angelo, too! Him and his fucking game of _I'm mute_! Maybe he'd throw him in after Alex! Maybe then he wouldn't have to deal with the lunatics ever again!

He laughed. They were the losers – not him! He wasn't the one freaking out because of a little bit of water! He wasn't the one who was _so smart_, but couldn't even swim to save his life!

Angelo tried to get down on the floor a second time, and Kyle threw his arm away from him in disgust. What a loser!

Ignoring Angelo and Alex, he turned and walked away from the pool. He hoped Alex's handler got caught up with something and didn't return for a long time. In fact, he hoped Alex drowned!

Angelo crawled to the edge of the pool and held him hand out over the water, far too close for Alex to grab, but far enough that he wasn't willing to budge any further and took up kneeling on the floor, just staring at Alex.

He frowned, thinking about water. Perhaps it would be best if Alex didn't struggle. He tried to think of a way to say this to Alex, but his thoughts just kept returning to puddles and gumboots. He'd never had gumboots as a child, but he had a feeling that he'd have liked to have had.

The frown slipped from his face. Suddenly, he felt like asking Alex if he'd ever had gumboots as a child. He'd come to the Center as a small child like the rest of them, so it stood to reason that he might have very well had gumboots as a child.

What sort of a childhood had Alex had, he wondered. Despite what people might have thought, he didn't think it necessarily had had to have been a very bad one. Had he had a mother and father? Had there been any other children in his family, had he had siblings?

Angelo frowned and pulled his hand back away from the water. It was very deep and he didn't think it would be safe to take any chances. He frowned, suddenly, at Alex, and thought, _Kyle and Alex are friends. Kyle would help. I should tell Kyle._

He got to his feet and turned around, spotting Kyle over by one of the doors. He walked up to him at a brisk pace and made to take his hand, but Kyle only slapped his hand away from him.

"Alex need Kyle," he said, finally, with some disconcertion.

"The only thing Alex needs is putting down," Kyle told him angrily.

"Kyle Alex friend," Angelo replied quietly.

Kyle laughed, glancing at him ferociously. "He _is not_ my _friend_! He's mad!"

"Mad need friend perhaps." He winced, and struggled to rephrase. "All… also."

"Alex isn't human, Angelo," Kyle snapped. "Why bother?"

"Human."

"Subhuman," Kyle corrected. The way he always went on about others as though they were all one big circus or zoo to him, as though he was so above them, so much better than they were – he was the one who was the freak show! He was the one who wasn't up to par!

"Little creature frighten. Little creature alone. Kyle no sad? Kyle help. Kyle can. Prove humans good. Angelo know capacity to good, but no Angelo see. Angelo sad. Angelo people too."

"Shut up!"

"Kyle people."

"SHUT UP!"

Angelo put his hand out. "Our people, big brother. Our people good. Angelo proud to be people."

"I'm proud to be a person!" Kyle snapped in a brittle voice, and slapped his hand away again, striding away from him toward the pool.

* * *

"Do I even dare ask?" Raines asked, annoyed, at the sight of the three of them. "The question, William, is not whether you dare ask, but rather whether you are willing to listen to the answer when it is given." He sighed heavily. "I don't want to know! All of you, zip it! Not a peep!"

"Angelo hungry," Angelo ventured.

"Really?" Raines asked, mock surprised. "Now isn't that a surprise! Hang on, why do I not find myself surprised?"

Angelo blinked, frowning.

"Not a peep!" Raines snapped. He didn't need to hear Angelo tell him how, well, if he'd been intending on being a surprise… where was the gift wrapping?

Angelo put his hands over his face, before Kyle reached over quickly to tug one of his hands back down again, silently shooting him a look that hopefully said, _He wasn't talking about you looking at him! He's talking about you blabbering!_ Then, because he couldn't help it, he laughed, earning himself a glare from Raines. Technically, laughing wasn't talking – so he could just zip it himself! And when the fuck did Angelo ever talk – so what was he talking about!

Raines sighed heavily and rubbed a hand over the side of his face. Surely this had to be the fun part of his day – when these three got together and ended up doing something completely _stupid_! "Alright, start talking!" he snapped, pointing a finger at Kyle.

"He fell in, end of story. Nothin' to tell."

"Nothing to tell," Raines growled.

Kyle rolled his eyes. "My apologies, sir. You're entirely correct. It is 'nothing.'"

"You're not funny!"

"I wasn't trying to be, sir."

Raines shook his head and turned back toward the door, trying to think of something fast to tell Alex's handler whilst still retaining an air of plausibility.

"The truth is that the chain on my medallion broke and it fell in the water," Alex spoke up, yanking the medallion from around his neck. If he noticed the way both Kyle's and Angelo's eyes magnetised to the medallion in his hand, he didn't give anything away. He was staring at Raines's back.

Raines turned back to them swiftly and glared at Alex, his eyes finally falling on the medallion. "And where would you have come by such a trinket?" he snapped.

"It was a reward for services rendered."

Kyle's eyes darkened, but he didn't take his gaze from Raines's face, where it had snapped to when Raines had turned around. They didn't get rewards when they did something right! They only got them when they fucked up!

"You're not paid to do your job well, Alexis!" Raines scowled. "The company feeds you and houses you at no cost to yourself as it is!"

"Pardon me," Alex replied, irritated, "but any one of us are not in a position to stroll on out of here and find ourselves a job as we wish!"

"Alex!" his handler snapped, finally making an appearance. "Watch that attitude!"

"I am watching you," Alex said. "It is only polite, when one addresses you. My eyes do not function independent of one another, I can hardly watch my attitude and you at the same time."

"Here! Now!" his handler growled.

"Good dog," Kyle whispered, amused.

Alex stood up and went to join his handler, who snatched the medallion out of his hand. "What did I say about this thing? If you want to keep it, I don't ever want to set eyes on it again! Is any of this ringing any bells, Alex?"

"No bells, but I do seem to recall you saying something of quite a similar nature."

"Look, I don't see why he was even given that thing in the first place," Raines interrupted.

The handler turned an angry glance in his direction. "Get them two out of here! I want to talk to Alex alone!"

"As you wish," Raines replied, doing a good job of hiding his own anger. Making himself unpopular with the Tower one too many time wasn't one his agenda for the day.

* * *

Once they'd left the room, Kyle turned sharply to Raines and frowned angrily. "Why does he get gifts and we don't?"

"Quiet! It isn't a gift, it has his pertinent medical information on it!"

Kyle sniggered. "Angelo should get one that says 'dumb, deaf and mute,'" he laughed.

Raines stopped dead and turned back to the two of them. "What was that? Did I hear you say something, Kyle?"

Kyle straightened up. "No, sir."

"I should think not," Raines replied, and turned back away from them and kept walking.

They followed him silently.

Several corners later, Raines stopped again and turned back to Kyle and Angelo. "You don't have any dangerous medical conditions, Kyle," he snapped.

"Neither does Alex," Kyle replied.

"And how would you know?" Raines asked, annoyed.

Kyle remained silent for a moment, then laughed. "If Alex can turn something into a sob story that'll get him pity, then he does! If he has some threatening condition, then trust me when I say, we'd all have heard about it by now! There's nothing wrong with him – other than the fact that he's missing a fucking brain!"

Angelo stared at him urgently. He was just asking for trouble talking like that!

"Alex is a highly intelligent person, Kyle," Raines told him. "Never forget that. As much as you may think so, he is not someone to be taken lightly. You must be on your guard at all times, and you'd do wisely not to trust a word that he says. He's undoubtedly an excellent Pretender, but as a person, I would not trust him. As surely as you turn your back on him, he's there with a knife twisting it in your back nicely and smiling and not batting an eyelid! He's a menace, and a damn hazard waiting to happen, and the sooner you two get that into your thick little heads, the better. He is not your friend! You need to dispense of that idea immediately. He is a Tower Pretender, and the Tower only look out for one person – themselves!"

Angelo sniffed.

"Are you listening to what I'm saying, Angelo?" Raines snapped, and Angelo looked up at him suddenly.

"He got you," Kyle said, annoyed. "He always listens. He's a little creep. You can't trust him, either."

"He's more trustworthy than Alex!" Raines snapped.

"Right. Until they come along with candy and then you see how fast he's up there with our boy, Al, stabbing us in the back right along with that little fucking creep!"

"There's no call for bad language, Kyle."

Kyle rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, sir. I'm just telling you what I think. You can take it or leave it, it's all the same to me. Makes no difference either way."

Raines fixed Angelo with a serious look. "They are not your friends, do you understand, Angelo?"

Angelo nodded slowly.

"Very well. We will continue," Raines replied. Halfway along the corridor, he frowned. "Did you ever think it was something he was embarrassed about?" he asked.

"Like what?" Kyle mocked. "He's really _a girl_!" He laughed hysterically.

Raines ignored him.

* * *

"It's not a stupid medical thing," Kyle remarked in a lowered voice to Angelo, as they were sitting at a table, taking lunch, and Raines was across the room, getting himself a coffee. "His boyfriend gave it to him." He laughed and smiled nicely at Jarod – who was sitting at a nearby table – when he turned around to look at him. "Get it?"

Angelo frowned. In fact, he was failing to get it; Kyle would do well to explain it, if he was expecting him to get anything.

Kyle growled. "I'm having one over you, Angelo. It's probably his little _Good job_ medal for killing Allie."

"Allie go Mrs. Parker," Angelo replied.

Kyle snickered darkly. "That's what they say - to keep us quiet! They don't want us knowing what a whacked out psycho Alex really is!"

Angelo shook his head and earned himself a slap in the arm from Kyle.

"If you want to be ignorant and an idiot, by all means – don't let me cramp your style! Fine, go ahead – it's your funeral, not mine." He laughed. "If you ask me, that woman couldn't find a hat if it was sitting right in front of her – on a hat rack! She was cracked! She had to have been, to marry that loser! Dull as a doormat, and stupid and cracked to boot!"

Angelo said nothing, but glanced at Raines when he returned with his coffee, looking annoyed. "Edna's not answering. I don't know how many times I've called her already, and every time I do I get the same thing – no answer!"

"She's dead," Kyle replied unemotionally.

"Pardon me?"

"I said, 'She's dead,'" Kyle said.

Raines looked at his coffee. "Good thing I got this," he muttered. "Looks like I need it."


End file.
